He joined the Johnson Space Center in 1983 and held several positions before being selected as an astronaut in 1998. He headed the trajectory design team as flight design manager for the Cassini mission, launched in 1989, and the Gamma-Ray Observatory, launched by the space shuttle Atlantis in 1991. He became chief of the flight design branch in 1993 and manager of the Emergency Operations Center in 1996. A veteran of two space flights—space shuttle Atlantis (STS-117) in 2007 and space shuttle Discovery in 2010. Anderson logged 167 days in space and 38 hours 28 minutes of EVA in six space walks. During the 2007 mission he completed five months aboard the International Space Station. In 2017 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognized Anderson with inclusion in the prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database for certified pilots who have met or exceeded the high educational, licensing, and medical standards established by the FAA. Anderson retired from NASA in January 2013.